Wednesday, May 30, 2001
|
Wednesday, May 30, 2001 |
|
Report: Fayette watersheds fairly clean By DAVE
HAMRICK
Fayette County is doing a good job of keeping its watershed areas clean. "Not too bad, all in all," said Tony Parrott, director of the county Water System, in presenting a report on environmental threats to watersheds throughout metro Atlanta to the Water Committee last week. The report rates the environmental risk and actual contamination, using such factors as the number of sources of contamination, the percentage of the under construction and the percentage covered with pavement and buildings. The Horton Creek watershed in Fayette is arguably the cleanest in the metro area, according to the report. It's the only watershed listed with no potential sources of spills, and it has only 3.5 percent impervious surface and only 1 percent under construction. That watershed is ranked low in environmental concerns. The only rankings given are low, medium and high. Fayette's only high ranking is for the Flint River watershed, which is shared with Clayton County. The Fayette side has 464 pollution sources, with 11 percent of those rated as high-risk. Twenty-three percent are rated as medium-risk and 66 percent low-risk. Flat Creek, Line Creek and Whitewater Creek all received medium or low rankings. During the last year, Fayette watersheds experienced six spills, all considered minor, said Parrott. Not surprisingly, Atlanta's Chattahoochee River showed some of the highest risk, with 1,454 pollution sources, 55 percent of them considered medium- or high-risk, 21.7 percent of the land area paved over, and 374 sewer lines crossing streams.
|
||